Googie Night Hits San Jose

Mateo, an artist known for his mid-century-modern-inspired work, designed this t-shirt for the event.

In the days before Netflix, back before coffee was individually brewed and cost $5 a cup, our ancestors sought simpler pleasures.

Like drive-in movies and diners.

On Saturday August 6, Heather David, one of the Bay Area’s biggest fans of Googie architecture, wants you to join her for dinner at Jimmy’s Restaurant in San Jose followed by movies at nearby Capitol 6 Drive-in Theatre.

“It’s a way of celebrating a lost cultural leisure activity,” David says. The event is sponsored by the Northern California chapter of DOCOMOMO, which seeks to preserve modern architecture.

The 1970-vintage Capitol Drive-in, designed by Vincent Raney, is “one of the last two functioning drive-in theaters in the San Francisco Bay Area,” David says.

“Jimmy’s is insane and the interior is mind-blowing,” she says about the coffee shop, which is across from the Capitol. “It is the last coffee shop I’ve been able to find that hasn’t had an interior remodel that erases its history.”

The event starts at 6:30 p.m. Jimmy’s is at 222 West Capitol Expressway, and the drive-in is at 3630 Hillcap Avenue.